


Something To Be Seen In

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Background Poly, Gen, but read the summary, it's more gen than anything else, very slight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 10:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18914884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "The actual ceremony for becoming a Guardian seems quite straightforward, but I think it would be hilarious if every guardian went through some kind of magical sparkly transformation.Jack’s Guardian outfit is almost obscenely tight and all the others sort of look to MiM like, “Seriously??”Bonus for Pitch getting a look at him, too."This is basically what it says on the tin, in a universe where Pitch is a much more common villain for the Guardians. Also, there are slight tinges of OT4-5-6 whatever, because it’s been on my mind.





	Something To Be Seen In

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 9/23/2015.

“Then you are now, and forevermore, a Guardian!” North declared. He beamed at Jack as he closed the book and handed it over to Tooth. Jack smiled wide enough to make his mouth hurt as North gathered him into a back-cracking hug. He had finally found a place! He had been seen! Everything was going to be wonderful now! Maybe even Pitch could be rehabilitated; Jack didn’t feel too hostile toward him now, sitting off to the side with his hands and feet tied up in dreamsand, finally not talking due to the tooth that Tooth had just knocked out, his nightmares either changed back into dreamsand or scattered into dust around the frozen lake.

“Wait, did anyone tell Jack about the second part of the ceremony?” Bunny asked.

Jack felt North tense in surprise before setting him down, leaving him open for a just-as-enthusiastic, but somewhat scaled-down hug from Tooth.

“Ah—no,” North said.

Jack reluctantly let go of Tooth, who realized only belatedly that she should also participate in the letting go. “Sorry,” she whispered, squeezing his hand.

“What’s the second part of the ceremony?” Jack wasn’t worried, not exactly, because he was pretty sure the Guardians wouldn’t do anything bad to someone who was part of their team, but he also knew he had no idea how Guardian magic actually worked. “Was that ceremony, also, like, a wedding or something?”

Sandy clapped his hands delightedly and Jack’s eyes widened in alarm. He was almost certain he heard Pitch snicker at him before groaning in pain again.

“Sandy—what—no, Jack, this was not a wedding,” North said. “The thing is, though, that soon after you take your oath, you will be given new appearance—we think this it must be Man in Moon who does this, but Manny does not communicate easily with Earth. What I am trying to say is, do not worry, you can change your appearance back just as soon as the transformation is done.”

“Transformation?” Jack said in alarm, but this was all he had time to say before a bright, white light, like moonlight on a winter night, bloomed from the center of his chest and surrounded him. What! he wanted to yell, but as far as he could tell, he had become incapable of speaking of moving on his own. Being moved by something else—well, that was another matter entirely. He was lifted up, not like the wind lifted him, but like he was floating in water.That’s not funny! he thought as loudly as he could. Less disturbing, but only because of his particular circumstances, was the feeling of being stripped of his old clothes and wrapped in some other fabric. He couldn’t tell what it was going to look like, but at least he felt like he wasn’t going to be naked when the transformation stopped.

Which it did, after what he was told later was only about a minute. He couldn’t have guessed that at all when the floating sensation placed him gently back on the ice.

The other Guardians looked at him with various expressions of surprise and consternation, except for Sandy, who nodded approvingly while forming the image of a cape above his head.

“I have a cape…?” Jack looked down at himself and discovered that he had much more than just a cape. The closest comparison he could make was to the kinds of clothes figure skaters wore, but that didn’t quite convey the feeling of wearing this particular outfit. It was, well, a full-body leotard, with open feet and hands, with delicate straps of material around his feet and toes and fingers to keep the legs and sleeves in place. The whole thing was pale blue, with patterns in glittering white that looked like the frost Jack left on windows. And it was indeed completed with a short cape of some gauzy, shining material that ended above his waist and was attached to his shoulders with silver epaulets. Jack wasn’t sure how they fit with the deep, deep neckline of the outfit, or the vague concession to physics that the silver laces that held what little material there was to cover his chest in place seemed to be. As for the material itself—well, it felt nice. Very soft, sort of slippery. But it was also the only layer that was covering his body, and it was both very thin, and very tight. The amount it left to the imagination was not detectable by most instruments.

Jack held his staff in front of him, which on second thought probably didn’t help. “Can someone please send the kids farther away?” he asked. His blush was extensive enough to travel partway down his chest, and everyone could see this. Why? Why in the world had this been the outfit he had been granted?

“You cannot change back right away?” North asked. Jack shook his head emphatically. North shrugged off his coat and draped it over Jack. “We will say goodbye, then figure this out.”

*

Sleeping children were being carried away by yetis and elves and eggs and fairies while Jack and the other Guardians faced each other on the ice once more. “Why this?” Jack asked. “I don’t think I should be seen in this by anyone!”

“Oh, well, you know, it’s not that bad,” said Tooth, and Sandy nodded in agreement.

Bunny looked skeptically at both of them. “I realize I don’t have a lot of authority on clothes,” he said, “but are you sure that comment’s being made from a place of sympathy?” Tooth suddenly had to give some orders to her fairies, while Sandy just looked at Bunny with the most innocently puzzled expression he could muster. It was pretty impressive.

“What you need to do is not think about what you are wearing so much,” North began, when Pitch interrupted.

“I’ve seen more modest body paint!” he called out. “And I mean that quite literally.”

“So much for not thinking about it,” Jack muttered.

“Maybe it’s a test to see if you’re really dedicated to being seen,” Pitch said. “I’d certainly wear something like that if it meant that I could be acknowledged.”

“How did his mouth heal so fast?” Tooth asked no one in particular, while Sandy’s expression no longer could be defined as innocent in any way.

“Pitch—all right, that is enough, you are being captured, so try to act like it. Jack, do not be worried. If you cannot imagine your normal clothes, you will probably just need to sleep for a while, and when you wake up your old clothes will be back. You won’t expect to wake up in this, and so you won’t. You can come back to Workshop, too, to make sure you have safe place to rest.”

“Very tasteful invitation,” Pitch remarked. “Very welcoming. The North Pole can be quite a luxurious place, you know, and the beds are very big, but I really think—” Instead of a simple gag made of sand, Sandy gave Pitch what looked like a steampunk-influenced muzzle. Bunny rubbed his temples.

“Was Pitch just trying to make me nervous?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” North said, as Pitch shook his head, or maybe just tried to see how secure the muzzle was. “Though it is somewhat specific nervousness and maybe should be talked about. Anyway, we all had this transformation, it is nothing to worry about, like I said.”

“Wow,” Jack said. “So…do the weird clothes go away for good when I get my regular ones back?”

“No, they don’t.” This from Bunny. “If I had to guess, I’d say that for you they’ll come back at the beginning of every winter. Which is convenient, because you can plan for it. It’s the time of transformation that does it. Also you can consciously call the clothes back, if you want.”

“Huh.” Jack suddenly grinned. “When do I get to see all of yours?”

Tooth, Bunny, and North made faces of dismay, but Sandy threw some symbols into the air that seemed to say “maybe after the wedding”.

Jack decided he’d ask for a more detailed translation once he got his ordinary clothes back.


End file.
